The story of Celtic’s most significant Scottish Cup Final triumphs

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The Celtic Star

·22 mai 2025

The story of Celtic’s most significant Scottish Cup Final triumphs

On Saturday afternoon, the Celts will play in their 61st Scottish Cup Final, hoping to win the trophy for the 43rd time…

Over the years, the Hoops have had some very memorable victories in the competition. This is the story of Bhoys’ ‘first XI’ of important and historic Scottish Cup Finals.

1892 – Celtic 5-1 Queen’s Park

Celtic’s first ever Scottish Cup win was evidence of the newly formed club’s success and rise to prominence. In their first season, the Celts reached the Scottish Cup Final – an unprecedented achievement – although lost to Third Lanark.

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In the 1891-92 season, the Bhoys were again back in the final, playing at the original Ibrox. Owing to bad weather, the first match was played as a friendly. When the rescheduled fixture took place in April 1892, the Celts blew away their opponents. Two goals from Sandy McMahon and Johnny Campbell – as well as an own goal – gave the Bhoys a stunning 5-1 win, against the then dominant side in Scotland.

Celtic Scottish Cup winners 1892. Photo The Celtic Wiki

Unlike in the modern era, Celtic did not receive the trophy at the game. Instead, a ceremony was held that night at the Alexandra Hotel in Glasgow city centre. This victory was one part of Celtic’s ‘Holy Trinity’ of cup wins that season, along with the Glasgow Cup and Charity Cup.

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1904 – Celtic 3-2 Rangers

The story of the 1904 final is one-off of multiple firsts for Celtic and also Scottish football.

In August 1903, the Bhoys had switched from wearing green-and-white stripes to the now world famous green-and-white hoops. Celtic’s first final wearing this shirt was a Glasgow Cup defeat that same year. However, at the end of the 1903-04 season, they had a chance to rectify this.

The Celts were due to meet Rangers in the final at Hampden Park in April 1904. A pre-match newspaper cartoon described this meeting as being between the ‘Old Firm’, a term which stuck. This was also notable as the first final played at the modern day Hampden venue.

Jimmy Quinn, image by Celtic Curio

Early in the match, it looked like being a bad day for the Celts. Rangers raced into a 2-0 lead; it seemed likely the Hoops would suffer defeat. However, a Jimmy Quinn double made it level by the interval. In the second half, Quinn became the first Celt to get a Scottish Cup Final hat-trick, giving the Hoops a 3-2 win.

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1907 – Celtic 3-0 Hearts

The 1907 final ensured another piece of history for the Celts, and also Scottish football.

Playing at Hampden Park in April 1907, 50,000 turned out to watch Celtic face Hearts. The Edinburgh men had won the previous season’s cup and so were expected to be tough opponents. Instead, it proved to be a one-sided contest as a Willie Orr penalty and Peter Somers double made it 3-0 to Celtic.

Willie Orr, Celtic FC, photo The Celtic Wiki

Peter Somers. Photo The Celtic Wiki

Four days later, Celtic went to Partick Thistle’s Meadowside ground and claimed a 2-0 win, making the Celts the champions. This was the first time in Celtic and Scottish football’s history that a team had won the League and Scottish Cup double, although it would certainly not be the last occasion this happened.

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1909 – Celtic A-A Rangers

The 1909 Scottish Cup Final was an extraordinary experience; Celtic neither lost nor won. Instead, the trophy was not awarded to any team.

This was in an era before penalty kicks were used to settle games. Instead, drawn matches went to two replays before extra time was used. This led to suspicions amongst fans that some games were deliberately drawn in order to ensure a replay and make more money.

Scottish Cup Final 1909 ended in a riot and was abandoned…

In 1909, the Bhoys faced Rangers. The first game ended in a 2-2 draw, leading to a replay. When this ended in a 1-1 tie, many fans thought there would be extra time, but instead another replay was to be arranged. Failure to play extra time caused fury; fans of both teams invaded the pitch and destroyed much of the ground. Both clubs asked that no further replays be arranged, and so no trophy was awarded.

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1937 – Celtic 2-1 Aberdeen

Images of old football games can often show colossal crowds in comparison with the modern era. Even Celtic Park’s 60,000 capacity is dwarfed by the attendances of old.

The biggest of these came in 1937. On that occasion, Celtic met Aberdeen in the Scottish Cup Final. It was a tight match; the Hoops took the lead on 11 minutes thanks to Johnny Crum, but the Dons equalised within a minute. It took until the 72nd minute for Willie Buchan to score the game’s final goal to give Celtic the win.

Willie Buchan and Johnny Crum. Image The Celtic Star

As exciting as the game had been, the most memorable part was the numbers that turned out. Officially, 147,365 fans crammed onto Hampden’s slopes, which is the largest ever crowd for a match played in Europe.

Strangely, less than a week after Scottish Cup victory, Celtic suffered their all-time record defeat when they lost 8-0 to Motherwell in the final league game of the season.

Interestingly, Celtic and Hampden Park also hold the attendance record for a UEFA club competition. In 1970, the Hoops beat Leeds United in the European Cup semi-finals. The Glasgow game was played at Hampden, with an official crowd of 136,505, although it is believed that thousands more sneaked in.

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1965 – Celtic 3-2 Dunfermline

The 1965 Scottish Cup Final was not simply an exciting match, it was also the start of an incredible run of Celtic success. David Potter called it The Celtic Rising.

Celtic Scottish Cup winners 1965. Photo The Celtic Wiki

The 80th Scottish Cup Final was held in April 1965. Jock Stein had taken charge of the club just weeks before, and he was ready to change the Bhoys’ fortunes. Playing against Dunfermline, Celtic twice trailed, but on both occasions, Bertie Auld brought Celtic back onto level terms.

With only a few minutes remaining, Celtic’s captain, Billy McNeill, stepped forward to head home the ball, and give his team the advantage. This secured a 3-2 victory, and Celtic’s first national trophy since beating Rangers 7-1 in the 1957 League Cup Final.

It was most certainly not the last day that Celtic and Stein would celebrate. The ‘Big Man’ went on to lead Celtic to European success, multiple titles and numerous domestic cups. But it all began with that vital victory in 1965.

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1967 – Celtic 2-0 Aberdeen

Two years after their 1965 victory, Celtic were again back at Hampden Park to cheer another Scottish Cup victory. This latest celebration was one part of a remarkable season.

Celtic Scottish Cup winners 1967. Willie Wallace scores. Photo The Celtic Wiki

Earlier in the 1966-67 season, the Celts had claimed the Glasgow Cup and the League Cup. Now they faced Aberdeen in the Scottish Cup Final. Two goals either side of half-time from Willie Wallace meant that Billy McNeill would again hold aloft a trophy, and he was not finished for the season.

A week later, Celtic drew 2-2 at Ibrox to become League champions. This was an historic occasion as the first time that Celtic completed a domestic Treble. It was also unusual in the sense that the Treble was sealed by winning the League, unlike other Trebles that have been completed with the Scottish Cup.

And, of course, there was even better to come. Later in May, Celtic had their greatest ever day, winning the European Cup in Lisbon.

This season also brought with it another notable honour. It was the first time that any club in the world had completed a so-called Continental Treble of domestic League, national cup and the major continental trophy, in this case, the European Cup.

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1980 – Celtic 1-0 Rangers

The 1909 Scottish Cup Final was not played to completion owing to a riot. This day saw yet more violence, however, it did not affect the outcome of the match.

In May 1980, Celtic and Rangers played a closely fought match. Despite notable chances at each end, by the time 90 minutes had arrived, neither side had broken the deadlock. Into extra time, there was no still score at the break. However, shortly after the final period of football started, George McCluskey deflected home a shot from Danny McGrain to make it 1-0.

Celtic Scottish Cup winners 1980. Davie Provan and Frank McGarvey in action at Hampden. Photo The Celtic Wiki

When the final whistle sounded, Celtic had won the Scottish Cup for the 26th time. But that was not the most talked about event of the day. Instead, as some Celtic fans entered the pitch to celebrate, Rangers supporters came onto the park to fight. This led to large-scale battles on the pitch, and eventually mounted police were needed to restore calm.

As well as condemnation of the violence, the main outcome from the match was the banning of alcohol from Scottish football grounds.

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1988 – Celtic 2-1 Dundee United

Celtic were founded in 1887 but first played in 1888, so the 1987-88 season marked the club’s centenary. However, it was not clear that there would be anything to celebrate. The Souness Revolution at Ibrox had seen Rangers spend large sums, and most media predictions expected a successful Rangers season.

Celtic Scottish Cup winners 1988. Happy Birthday Celtic! Photo The Celtic Wiki

To counter this, the summer of 1987 saw Celtic bring back former boss Billy McNeill. ‘Cesar’ had been successful in his previous managerial spell – and also as a player – but could he do it again? The answer was an emphatic Yes.

Celtic started out with League success, finishing ahead of Hearts, despite pre-season beliefs of Rangers’ likely dominance. Three weeks after winning the title, the Bhoys were at Hampden to face Dundee United. Kevin Gallacher – the grandson of Celtic legend Patsy – put the Tayside men in front, and as the minutes ran down, it looked grim for green-and-white hopes.

However, with 14 minutes remaining, Frank McAvennie knocked home to level the match. Now Celtic went in search of a winner. Just as extra time looked likely, McAvennie struck once more, and ensured green-and-white ribbons again adorned the trophy. Huge celebrations took place to mark not only the Bhoys’ latest double, but also 100 years of Celtic.

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2017 – Celtic 2-1 Aberdeen

2017’s Scottish Cup Final was a momentous event for the Celts, ensuring a feat that the Bhoys never before achieved or since. The lead up to the match was one of enormous success. Brendan Rodgers had taken charge at the start of the season and so far the Celts had won the League Cup and title, doing so without losing a single game.

Tom Rogic celebrates after scoring the winner for Celtic in the 2017 Scottish Cup Final against Aberdeen. Photo Vagelis Georgariou

When the final came round, it offered the Celts to not only win the Scottish Cup, but also complete an entirely unbeaten domestic season. Aberdeen however had other ideas; within nine minutes, they had taken the lead through future Celt Johnny Hayes. This focused the green-and-white men, and within two minutes, Stuart Armstrong had equalised.

Both sides pressed and had chances, but when the 90th minute arrived, there had been no more goals. With only injury time to play, it seemed likely that extra time would be needed, and perhaps even penalties. But then stepped up the Wizard of Oz. Tom Rogic got the ball and took it on a run against the Aberdeen defence, evading all challenges and slotting home the ball.

This did not simply give Brendan Rodgers a Treble in his first season, it meant that his team had done so as Invincibles, failing to beaten at any point by a Scottish side.

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2020 – Celtic 3-3 Hearts (4-3 penalties)

The 2020 Scottish Cup Final took place under incredibly unusual circumstances; it was in an empty Hampden Park, months after the 2019-20 season was supposed to have ended.

Early in 2020, normal life came to an end. The spread of COVID around the world led to an international shutdown, with billions before forced to stay at home. Football was of course affected by this. The 2019-20 season was curtailed, and Celtic were declared Champions, having already won the League Cup.

Leigh Griffiths with the Scottish Cup, December 2020. Photo Celtic FC

However, the Scottish Cup was only at the semi-final stage. Once football began to be played again – but without crowds – these games went ahead. In November 2020, Celtic beat Aberdeen, the day after Hearts won the Edinburgh derby to set up a final showdown.

The 2020 Scottish Cup Final took place on 20 December 2020. Despite there being no fans present at Hampden, it was still a remarkable game. Thanks to Ryan Christie and Odsonne Edouard, the Celts were two ahead within half an hour. It looked to be over, but Hearts fought back, taking the game to extra time.

Once again, the Celts took the lead, with Leigh Griffiths scoring, but another Hearts strike made it 3-3. A very exciting game, and also the final score. Penalty kicks were needed, and this was ominous for Celtic. The Bhoys had lost their two previous domestic cup final penalty shootouts, falling to Aberdeen in the 1990 Scottish Cup and Raith Rovers in the 1994 League Cup.

However, this time it was different. Hearts’ final two kicks were saved by Conor Hazard in the Celtic goal, and Kristofer Ajer scored the decisive penalty. Celtic had won again, and best of all, this match completed an unprecedented Quadruple Treble for Celtic. They had won all major Scottish domestic trophies from season 2016-17 to 2019-20. Fans could celebrate, but only whilst in their homes.

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In addition to all these games, there have been many of other famous Celtic days in the Scottish Cup. This includes historic days such as winning the 100th Scottish Cup (beating Dundee United in 1985), and winning the 2024 trophy, which marked 150 years of the Scottish Cup.

Celtic Scottish Cup winners 1972. Photo The Celtic Wiki

Other moments have been a central part of Celtic’s story, including 1972 when the Celts beat Hibs 6-1 to claim their biggest victory in the final.

The Celts have a fantastic history in the Scottish Cup, and hopefully this week’s final will be another significant chapter. But, so far, what’s been your favourite Celtic moment in the Scottish Cup?

Matthew Marr

If you want to learn more about Celtic history, follow Hail Hail History on Twitter/X. You can also take part in a FREE Celtic history walking tour. Visit celticwalkingtours.wordpress.com for more information.

Click on cover to order a hardback copy

Matthew’s debut Celtic book titled ‘The Bould Bhoys – Glory to their name’ was published by Celtic Star Books last year and is available to order HERE. This brilliant book is also available on Amazon Kindle for just £3.49 and includes all photo sections that appear in the hardback edition.

Matthew Marr with his debut Celtic book, Glory to their name, which tells the story of Celtic’s first ever title win. Photo The Celtic Star

Celtic in the Thirties by Celtic Historian Matt Corr is published in two volumes by Celtic Star Books.